Apparatus and method for winding flexible material for twistless payout through a straight radial opening

ABSTRACT

In winding flexible material in a series of figure-8 bights on a spindle or mandrel, with successive cross-overs progressing around the package and with interruption at one point to produce a radial hole through which the interior end of the material is led out, the machine having a guide which moves outwardly as the package builds up, rocking about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the spindle, the production of a curved radial opening is prevented by either changing the relative speeds of the spindle and the guide in such a way as to produce the opening at substantially the same angular position in each layer or by shifting the spindle on its shaft slightly as the package builds up for the same purpose.

llnited States Patent [1 Wagner et al.

[ APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR WINDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL FOR TWISTLESS PAYOUT THROUGH A STRAIGHT RADIAL OPENING [7 51 Inventors: William A. Wagner, Bronxville;

James W. Newman, Scarsdale, both of N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Wiudings, lnc., Yonkers, N.Y. 22 Filed: Sept. 15,1911

21 Appl. No.: 180,768

[52] US. Cl 242/18 R, 242/43, 242/163 [51] Int. Cl B65h 54/00 [58] Field of Search 242/18 R, 43, 163

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,634,918 4/1953 Taylor, Jr. et a1. 242/43 2,634,922 4/1953 Taylor, Jr. 2,634,923 4/1953 Taylor, .Ir. 2,767,938

10/1956 Taylor, Jr. 242/163 1 July 24, 1973 5/1971 Gordon et al 242/18 R 5/1972 Hopko 242/18 R PrimaryExaminer-Stanlry N. Gilreath Attorney-Jennings Bailey, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT In winding flexible material in a series of figure-8 bights on a spindle or mandrel, with successive cross-overs progressing around the package and with interruption at one point to produce a radial hole through which the interior end of the material is led out, the machine having a guide which moves outwardly as the package builds up, rocking about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the spindle, the production of a curved radial opening is prevented by either changing the relative speeds of the spindle and the guide in such a way as to produce the opening at substantially the same angular position in each layer or by shifting the spindle on its shaft slightly as the package builds up for the same purpose.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATEmEu 3.147. 861

SHEEI 1 0F 2 [El l M iL /cxur ATTORNEY APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR WINDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL FOR TWISTLESS PAYOUT THROUGH A STRAIGHT RADIAL OPENING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to the winding of flexible material in a package composed of a series of layers each formed of a plurality of figure-8 bights the cross-overs of which progress successively around the package leaving a radial opening through it at one point through which the inner end of the material is led out for twistless payout.

2. The Prior Art The present invention constitutes an improvement on the machines and methods disclosed by Taylor et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,918 and Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,922. It is particularly useful in connection with the arrangement shown in Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,008, in which a so-called plus-minus wind is formed by causing the cross-overs to progress around the package first in one direction and then in the other by amounts of somewhat less than 360.

Hole Straightening Either the guide or the spindle on all conventional widning machines recedes from either the spindle or the guide respectively. This receding member pivots on a fulcrum about an axis parallel to that of the spindle, which is the case in all conventional winding machinery, a radial hole produced by methods covered in the patents discussed above will be curved. The curvature will follow the arc of the receding member. The curved hole is undesirable. It leads to restrained payout due to layers where the greatest friction occurs. it may limit the size of the winding because the curvature can be so great as to make payout of certain materials impractical in a large package, and even prevent insertion of a tube. It may make a large hole mandatory so that some of the curvature can be negated by using an inordinately large hole.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the production of a curved hole is avoided and a straight radial hole is produced, by so adjusting the machine that the hole is produced in each layer at the same angular position on the material being wound, regardless of the fact that the guide in its movement out from the axis as the package is built up moves ina curved path.

The present invention constitutes two ways in which this can be accomplished.

Since the hole advances around the'winding circumference, each layer gaining or losing slightly on the one preceding, it will be necessary to speed up or slow down the spindle with respect to the guide. This change in speed of one member with respect to the other must be coordinated with the rate at whichthe hole is advancing around the circumference of the winding. Thus the effect will be a straight hole. That is, a hole perpendicular to the winding's surface will be produced. This change of speed will ordinarily be very slight.

A machine using a synchronous motor will lend itself well to such an application because speed changes are easily and accurately accomplished by changing the driver frequency at the translator. At the completion of each layer it will only be necessary to adjust the driving frequency very slightly in order to effect the speed change of one of the members (spindle or guide). Since the gain is also effected by changing one member's speed with respect to the others, it may be necessary to compensate for the change in speed in order to preserve the same gains in each layer of the wind. Programmed winding machines could easily straighten the hole and preserve the original positive and negative gains throughout the wind.

According to a further modification of the invention, the mandrel on which the wind is to be formed is mounted on a spindle and mechanism is provided controlled by a counter operated in synchronism with the motor driving the spindle for shifting the mandrel slightly on the spindle after each given number of revolutions to such an extent as to cause the production of a straight hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically the manner in whic a hole is normally produced in a machine in enabling the feature of the present invention, as well as the desirable hole to be produced according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a system for producing a straight hole in which the relative speeds of the guide and spindle are varied;

FIG. 3 is a detail of a part of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows in a block diagram a circuit for the arrangement of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a modified form in which the mandrel is attached with respect to the spindle; and

FIG. 6 is an end view of the mandrel shifting mechanism of FIG. 5..

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a spindle or mandrel 2 upon which is built up a package 4 of flexible material in the form of figure-8 bights as disclosed in the Taylor patents referred to above. Certain layers of the package are shown diagrammatically.

The package is produced by the rotation of the spindle 2 in synchronism with a guide 6 which is moved back and forth along the package so as to build up successive figure-8 coils in layers, with the cross-overs in each layer progressing successively around the package but leaving an opening at one point such as the opening 8. This is preferably accompanied by causing the crossovers to progress in one direction through an angle of slightly less than 360 and then in the other direction as disclosed in Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,008.

Because the guide 6 which moves gradually out from the axis of the package as it is wound is mounted to swing about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation, the normal procedure results in a curved hole as shown in 8, which has the disadvantages discussed above.

The present invention provides a straight hole as indicated at 10.

According to the modification shown in FIG. 2, the mandrel on which the material is wound is driven by a synchronous motor controlled by a translator which also controls a synchronous cam motor. The latter through a heart-shaped cam and rollers on a slide oscillates a lever carrying a guide for the flexible material. All of the mechanism from the motor 18 to the guide 28 is mounted on a frame mounted in bearings and gradually moved away from the mandrel during the building up of the package by a guide angle adjustment device.

According to the invention, the translator is so adjusted that, as the package builds up, at each revolution or at a certain time after a pre-determined number of revolutions the translator adjusts the speed of the cam motor slightly with relation to that of the spindle motor. This may for example accomplish the desired result by slowing down the guide slightly with respect to the spindle as the cross-overs progress in one direction around the package, preferably at about the time of change from a plus wind to a minus wind or speeding it up slightly as the cross-overs progress in the other direction. For example, if in the form of FIG. 1 the crossovers are progressing clockwise, and the rate of rotation of the spindle is increased slightly with respect to that of the guide, the cross-overs will reach the radial position of the straight hole at the time that the reversing mechanism operates to cause the cross-overs to start to progress in the opposite direction. If during this second stage the spindle is slowed down with respect to the guide, the final cross-overs will again approach the other side of the hole 10. This will continue forming layer by layer, with the result that the hole 10 will be straight instead of curved as shown at 8.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, FIG. 2 shows a mandrel 2 mounted on a spindle 12 driven by a motor 14. There is likewise a guide 16 pivoted at 18 on a member 20 carried by a frame 22 having projections at either end turnable in bearings 24. The frame 22 also carries a motor 26, hereinafter referred to as the guide motor, which drives a cam 28 capable of moving back and forth a slide 30 guided in a member 32 carried by the frame 22. Slide 30 has a pin 34 engaging in a slot' 36 in the guide member 16, for causing the guide member to oscillate as the cam 28 is rotated by the motor 26.

Two pickups 38 and 40 respectively are associated with the shafts of motors l4 and 26 to pick up a signal once at each revolution. The signals from the pickup 40 are supplied by a step-by-step motor 42 which drives a worm 44 engaging a worm wheel 46 mounted on the frame 22. Thus at each revolution of the motor 26, the motor 42 is turned by one step, and through worm wheel 46 gradually moves the guide 16 away from the package being wound on mandrel 2 as this package builds up, without contact with the face of the package.

In lieu of this arrangement, it is possible to also use an arrangement such as shown in the US. Pat. to Keith, No. 2,769,299.

FIG. 4 shows diagrammatically the control circuit. Pickups 38 and 40 feed And logic 48 which emits a signal each time the pickups 38 and 40 emit signals simultaneously. Since the motors 14 and 26 are running slightly out of phase with each other, this means that such a signal will be emitted only once in slightly less than a full layer, that is, as the cross-overs of the winding approach the hole from one side or the other.

The emission ofa signal by the And logic 48 sends a signal to a bi-stable flip-flop 50, which alternately energizes resistors 52 and 54, which in turn control a pulse generator 56 supplying pulses from a power supply 58 through logic and amplifiers 60 to one of the motors, for example the cam motor 26. The other motor, such as the spindle motor 14, is also supplied through pulse generator 62 from power supply 58, and logic and amplifiers 64. Pulse generator 62 is connected with an adjustable resistor 66 so that the speed of motor 14 can be adjusted.

The device 68 made up of the parts 56, 58, 60, 62 and 64 makes up a translator, which may be for example a high speed translator of the type made by the Superior Electric Company, Bristol, Conn., and described in a pamphlet entitled New High Speed Translators Present Indexer, Copyright 1968 by the Superior Electric Company. With such an arrangement, variations in the resistances 52, 54 or 66 control the pulse generators 56 or 62 so as to vary the speed of motors 26 and 14. Since resistors 52 and 54 are different, they will alternately be connected by the bi-stable flip-flop 50 to cause the cam motor 26 to move slightly faster than or slightly slower than the spindle motor 14, so as to produce the desired plus-minus gain and minus gain.

Bi-stable flip-flop 50 at each operation operates a time relay 70, which upon actuation closes for a preselected, adjustable period of time, for example half a second or the like. The closing of this relay closes an electronic switch 72 which in turn operates a sequential relay 74, or in other words a step-by-step relay which at each operation will move a movable contact from one to another of a series of secondary contacts. The secondary contacts are connected by lines 76 to a plurality of resistors 78 of differing values which are in turn connected to the pulse generator 56.

Thus each time the bi-stable flip-flop 50 is operated, that is, each time the cross-over point approaches the hole being formed in a winding, the time relay sends current to one of the resistors 78 and thus to the pulse generator.

Each time one of the resistors is connected to the pulse generator 56, it causes a slight adjustment of the speed of the cam motor 26 for the time in which the relay is closed. This then slows down the progress of the crossovers on one side of the hole and speeds them up on the other side of the hole, so that the curvature shown in FIG. 1 is avoided and a straight hole is obtained.

The resistors 76 are selected so that this speeding up or slowing down varies to compensate for the fact that the position of the hole must be adjusted more and more as the package builds up, or in other words the deviation from the hole 8 must be increased to maintain the hole straight.

In the case of narrow walled packages it may be possible to eliminate the relay 74 and operate with a single resistor 78,,and still obtain substantial straightening of the hole. v

Coming now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a modified arrangement is shown in which the mandrel 2 is mounted on a spindle 80 driven by motor'l4. A friction clutch 82 mounted on the spindle 80 connects the mandrel 2 with the spindle so as normally to turn therewith but to be movable with respect thereto. The spindle is mounted in bearings 84.

The motor 14 drives a motor 86, which is arranged to emit a pulse after a certain number of operations, for

example at each hundredth rotation of the spindle. This pulse is supplied to a control switch 86 and reopens as soon as the pulse is removed. The switch 88 controls an electromagnet 90 through slip rings 92.

Electromagnet 90 is mounted on a carrier 94 rotatable with the spindle 80, and at each actuation operates a pawl 96 which is connectible with teeth on a projection 98 of the spindle 2.

As a result, periodically during the formation of the package the electromagnet 90 is energized and produces turning of the mandrel 2 on the spindle 80. The result is that the position at which the hole is formed with reference to the spindle is adjusted periodically from its curved shape part at 8 in FIG. 1 to obtain substantially a straight hole 10.

We claim:

1. In a machine for winding flexible material having a spindle element mounted to rotate about an axis, a guide element, means to rotate the spindle element and means to move the guide element along the spindle element and slightly out of phase therewith so as to lay up on the spindle element successive layers of figure-8 winds in which the cross-overs progress successively around the package in opposite directions in successive layers, the progression of cross-overs being somewhat less than 360 so as to leave holes forming a radial opening into the central core of a package being wound on the spindle element, and means mounting the guide element for oscillatory movement towards and from the spindle about an axis parallel to the spindle element axis, the improvement which comprises means to cause said holes in successive layers to be formed substantially in a straight line radial to the axis of the spindle element, said last means comprising means for changing the relative speed of movement of the elements progressively during the build-up of the package to such a degree as to maintain substantially the holes in the same radius.

2. In a machine as claimed in claim 1, said last means comprising means for producing a slight angular shift of that part of the spindle element on which the material is wound with respect to the guide element after a predetermined number of layers.

3. In a machine as claimed in claim 2, said spindle element comprising a shaft and a mandrel mounted on the shaft and turnable with respect thereto, said spindle element rotating means including means to rotate the shaft, friction means normally resisting turning of the mandrel with respect to the shaft, said shift producing means including means to produce turning of the mandrel with respect to the shaft.

4. In a machine as claimed in claim 3 means to count the movements of one of said elements, and means controlled by said counting means to produce operation of said shift producing means.

5. In a machine as claimed in claim 2, means to count the movements of one of said elements, and means controlled by said counting means to produce operation of said shift producing means. 

1. In a machine for winding flexible material having a spindle element mounted to rotate about an axis, a guide element, means to rotate the spindle element and means to move the guide element along the spindle element and slightly out of phase therewith so as to lay up on the spindle element successive layers of figure-8 winds in which the cross-overs progress successively around the package in opposite directions in successive layers, the progression of cross-overs being somewhat less than 360* so as to leave holes forming a radial opening into the central core of a package being wound on the spindle element, and means mounting the guide element for oscillatory movement towards and from the spindle about an axis parallel to the spindle element axis, the improvement which comprises means to cause said holes in successive layers to be formed substantially in a straight line radial to the axis of the spindle element, said last means comprising means for changing the relative speed of movement of the elements progressively during the build-up of the package to such a degree as to maintain substantially the holes in the same radius.
 2. In a machine as claimed in claim 1, said last means comprising means for producing a slight angular shift of that part of the spindle element on which the material is wound with respect to the guide element after a predetermined number of layers.
 3. In a machine as claimed in claim 2, said spindle element comprising a shaft and a mandrel mounted on the shaft and turnable with respect thereto, said spindle element rotating means including means to rotate the shaft, friction means normally resisting turning of the mandrel with respect to the shaft, said shift producing means including means to produce turning of the mandrel with respect to the shaft.
 4. In a machine as claimed in claim 3, means to count the movements of one of said elements, and means controlled by said counting means to produce operation of said shift producing means.
 5. In a machine as claimed in claim 2, means to count the movements of one of said elements, and means controlled by said counting means to produce operation of said shift producing means. 